2. Also write to the Director General of the Immigration Department, Tuan Hj Wahid bin Md Don, and the Director General of RELA, Dato’ Zaidon Bin Hj. Asmuni, urging them to stop arresting refugees with UNHCR documentation, and to allow UNHCR officials to access, verify and document all asylum seekers (addresses provided below). Those who are verified as refugees should be released immediately, as they should not be detained indefinitely in immigration detention centres.

3. Write to your Member of Parliament expressing your concern about the lack of just policies concerning refugees in Malaysia. Ask him/her to raise this at Parliament. Also ask him/her to question the Ministry of Home Affairs about why the process for issuing IMM13 work permits to Rohingyas was suspended, and why it has not been continued, despite promises since October 2004 that Rohingyas would be given these as a humanitarian act recognising their precarious position in Malaysia.

4. Raise awareness about refugees. You can blog about them, send letters to newspapers expressing your opinions, write articles for newsletters, etc. Another wordpress project is Refugees SG, which was started by students in Singapore about refugees in Southeast Asia.

5. Hold talks in your schools, colleges, universities and places of worship about the refugee situation in Malaysia. You can contact organisations such as SUARAM and Amnesty International Malaysia to speak at your events. You can also volunteer for these organisations; they run refugee awareness campaigns.

6. Contact the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and ask them how you can contribute to the lives of refugees. You can either make donations or volunteer to work with them. Get your friends, schools, or organisations involved – sponsor medical assistance for refugees, donate books and stationery to a community school, volunteer to teach, offer to visit refugees in prisons and detention centers, befriend refugee women. You can reach UNHCR Malaysia at +603 2141 1322 or email MLSLU at unhcr.org

Whenever you read about refugees around the world, remember that we too have them in Malaysia, and they are in need of our protection and assistance. Each of us makes a difference.

Support the Alliance of Chin Refugees (ACR) in Malaysia! They have a handicraft project for women which you can directly contribute to by buying the traditional handicrafts or through donations. For more information contact John on 016 6343514 or mangtha@gmail.com

Thank you for putting up this website to publicise the plight of the refugees. Knowing is not enough – it is doing something about it – however small the deed – that counts. You have my email. Please contact me and advise how we can offer humanitarian aid through the proper channels. I’d also like to get your advice on what else can be done and share some of my ideas with you. BTW excellent graphics and photo stories. God bless you.

Do you think you can make your ‘slide-show’ downloadable — so people can help to raise awareness by placing the slide-show, and then linking to fiftyrefugees? Also, maybe include more practical day-to-day things taht one can do to help these refugees, even if it’s just a smile?
Thanks for putting this together, great stuff.

About This Website

As at June 2007, there are approximately 37,000 Refugees registered with the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) in Malaysia. Many more are asylum seekers who have yet to achieve Refugee status. This website tells the stories of 50 of them. Aged from babies barely a month old to grandfathers and grandmothers in their 50s, theirs is a varied background, coming from 3 different countries and 10 different ethnicities. Theirs is a heartwrenching story of detention, abuse, fear, neglect, and humiliation. But these are stories of resilience, courage, hope and love as well.
Read their stories here. People who are of your age, or of your children's age, or your parents'.
Normal human beings, of flesh and blood, hopes and dreams, like you and me.